Astrology Explored

March 11, 2008
Zeus, the king of the gods, had a horrible headache that raged throughout the day, unabated and seeming without end. Then his head literally split open and out sprang, fully grown, fully clothed and fully armed the goddess of wisdom, Athena.

Parthenogenesis, creating offspring without sexual mating, was a curious talent of the ancient Greek goddesses. Eris, known as the goddess of discord, was the parthenogenetically produced daughter of the goddess Night, who helfself was created out of the primoridal chaos of the Universe. However, the Olympian gods, four to five generations removed from the origins of creation, seem to have lost that talent, all that is, for Zeus.

Zeus was known as the greatess of the gods, but compared to the relative strengths of the more ancient gods, he was merely more ruthless, (killing his father) and more clever (creating a coalition of his brothers to support him while convincing them to take lesser kingdoms.) Zeus, also in ascending to the leadership role of the Greek pantheon also represented the first time that a male god was considered more powerful than a female goddess.

Zeus’ ascension was result a centuries long cultural war was waged between the invading and patriarchal Archaean tribes from the north and the then matriarchal tribes of Greece of pre-Hellenistic society. Formerly, in Greece, the Mother Goddess was worshipped in diverse forms and royal lines of succession came from the distaff side. As the two cultures clashed and eventually merged, the power of the feminine goddesses was subverted and reinterpeted to fit within the patriachal framework of the invading peoples. Before this time, wisdom was considered a female attribute, in Athene is remained there. The difference is that with Zeus as her sole progenitor, now wisdom came down from the male line.

Life for Greek women changed during these turbulent times. Athenian women lost the vote, women in Greece rarely left their homes, and did not enter public life. Marriage was a contractual arrangement between the woman’s father and the groom, with a dowry given by the father for the financial security of his daughter in the event of divorce or death of the husband. The status of a Greek woman was that of a domestic servant, with the duty to bear the next generation. Every freedom was denied women, with divorce mandatory if she committed adultery, while males enjoyed every financial and sexual freedom they could secure for themselves without reprecussions. But at least the men for all this freedom were expected to provide for their families.

If we think for a second that our society has secured a better life for the women of our culture, we are fooling ourselves. Sure, woman can vote, and we work outside the home. But we also still do the bulk of the traditional women’s work, and by all the studies, the men still aren’t sharing those burdens. Instead of being domestic servants, we are now domestic servants who are expected to bring home a paycheck. Instead of a dowry, we are to make our own way in the world and make the home a comfy place to be a the same time. And we still are only paid three quarters of what a man is paid.

And if you wonder what any of this has to do with astrology, Jupiter, (Zeus) is sitting on my Mercury. I have have a splitting headache and this is what sprang out.

astrology, Zeus, parthenogenesis, patriarchy